More Athletes Qualify For Regional And State Competitions

By: Katie Smythe

Sydney Schaedel qualifies for the State championship in the 1,000 meter run (Photo: Ed Lull)

In the second meet of the season, several T.C. Williams athletes made Regional and State qualifying marks in a number of track and field events. Many posted new personal records to kick off the 2011-2012 indoor season.

The Titans were competing in two concurrent meets. Most of the team participated against other local Northern Virginia schools in a meet at Episcopal High School. A handful of varsity athletes attended the more competitive Potomac River Holiday Invitational in Landover, Maryland. If athletes achieve the posted qualifying standards, they automatically advance to the Virginia High School League championship series of meets in February.

Even this early in the season, results from December 17 were good enough for some T.C. athletes to qualify for the Northern Region championship and two others to make it to the State championship in Richmond at the end of the season. With further conditioning and training, more are sure to follow. Head coach Patrick Deville commented, “The team showed a lot of improvement with new personal bests from many athletes.”

In the field events, Nicolas Ahumada cleared 12 feet 9 inches in the pole vault for the second time this season, which has earned him a spot at the State championship. Kahron Lee qualified for the Regional championship in the high jump after clearing 6 feet 2 inches and placing second at the PR Holiday Invitational. Jonathan Anderson also qualified for Regionals in the shot put with a throw of 48 feet and a new personal record.

In the track events, sophomore Sydney Schaedel qualified for the State championship in the 1,000 meter run with a new personal best time of 3:01.07. Shannon Smythe also posted a personal best in the 3,200 meter run (11:29.20) earning a spot at the Regional championship. Also qualifying for Regionals was Za'Quan Summer in the 55 meter dash with a time of 6.64, just 0.04 seconds off the State qualifying mark.

The next full competition for the T.C. Williams team is on January 7. The varsity squad will be competing at the CNU High School Showcase in Newport News. The rest of the team will be participating in another meet at Episcopal High School against local area schools.